Resilient tire for vehicles.



C. E. BEARD.

RBSILIENT TIRE FOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 4, 1910. 'Ll L 1L Patented Mar. 9, 1915.

HE NORRIS PETERS CO.. PHUTOLITHO, WASHINGTON. D, C.

CLEMENT E. ERARD, 0F COLUMBANA, OHIO.

BESILENT TERE FOR VEHICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

rarement irai. a, rais.

Application tiled August 4, 1910. Serial No. 575,453.

T0 all whom it may concern Be it known that ll, CLEMENT E. BEM-in, acitizen of the United States, and resident of Columbiana, Ohio, haveinvented a certain new and useful llmprovement in Resilient comprisingsprings always under tension,

for cushioning the solid tire of a vehicle wheel.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a flexibleor resilient tire for vehicle wheels, by the use of which the tractionpower necessary to propel the car will be reduced.

A further object of the invention is the provision of mechanicalflexible tire mechanism which can be placed on any of the usual wheelsof its` class, reduce the raising of dust on the road, be free from thepuncture troubles of pneumatic tires and yet having a resiliencyapproaching very nearly that of a pneumatic tire, and have a period ofusefulness equal to the remainder of the car.

@ther objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novelcombinations of parts being set forth in the appended claims.

ln the accompanying drawings. Figure l represents in elevation anautomobile wheel with a portion broken away to show my inventionembodied therein; Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view of the rims and tireof Fig. l on the line 2-2, lookingin the direction of the arrows.

Referring to the drawings, A designates a rim on the felly 10 of anautomobile wheel, the construction of which is well known so thatdetailed description thereof is unnecessary. @n the outer peripheralsurface of the hoop 8 near the edges thereof are mounted the detachableflanges 4, 4, and the locking ring 1.1.

` B designates an inner steel rim of the tire, which rim lits closely onthe peripheral surface of the rim A. The rim A, in this instance, issuch that the rim B may be easily slipped into place before the tireclenching mechanism is locked in place. As shown in Ilig. 2, the rim Bis U-shaped in cross-sec tion and is held in adjusted central positionon the rim of the wheel by means of a plu -rality of set screws 3, 3which extend through threaded openings spaced apart around the rim B.lThese set screws also bear against the clamp rings C, C lying in theannular grooves in the outer clencher rings 4, 4. Extending through theouter portion of the lll-shaped rim B are bolts or rods D which serve assupports for the inner arms 5, 5 of the quadrilateral connec- V tions J.

E designates intermediate supporting bolts for the outerends of the arms5 and the inner ends of the arms 6, these bolts also serying as a meansfor connecting the springs ll to the qu'adrilateral toggles, there beingone spring connected between the ends of the quadrilateraltoggle and aspring connected between each end of a quadrilateral toggle and the endof the next succeeding quadrilateral toggle.

F designates the outer supportingbolts for the quadrilateral toggle arms6, G, these bolts also passing through the steel rim L which lits withinthe tire rim H. The rim lL is inverted U-shaped in cross-section andserves to support the rods F at points spaced apart and corresponding innumber and distance to the points of location of the bolts D. The outertread rim H is U-shaped in crosssection and contains the solid rubbertire (Jl which may he clenched in position by the wires 7. 7, ifdesired.

K, K designate steel collars or sleeves which lit loosely on the boltsE, one on each side of the ends of the springs l and between the latterand the movable ends of the arms 5, 6. The ends of the springs ll fitcloselv on the rods E and therefore the collars K, l abut against saidends; the springs ll are held centrally of the flexible tire consideredin its entirety.

The rim H may be shrunk on to the rim L so as to make a tight fitthereon or they may be riveted together to prevent eithercircumferential or lateral movement with respect to each other, or therims'ltl and 'L may be integral. -It should also be noted that, ifdesired, the rim B may be placed directly on the wooden felly l0 of thewheel and suitable means provided for fastening the covering M, Mthereto. |Ihis might be preferable when the cushioning mechanism -isplaced on the wheel at the factory. In

such case the rim B could be riveted to the metal rim already on thewheel or if the entire wheel is being manufactured the parts 4, L and 8could be made in one piece and the clencher wire 11 and groovedextension in which it lits, omitted. 4

In order to protect the springs, toggles and connections from water anddirt, annular strips of rubber or canvas M, M are securely fastened, attheir inner edges to the rim A by means of the clamping rings 4l, 4 andC, C and are likewise securely fastened at their outer edges to thetread rim 1H, by means of the clamp rings N, N and screws 9, 9.

In the drawings I have shown twenty-four `separate springs connected totwelve quadrilateral `toggles, each of the latter being located near theouter end of a spoke of the Wheel. It should be understood, however,that the number of springs and toggles may be varied and so also theirlocation but I prefer to make the springs of equal 4length andsubstantially of equal tension and space the quadrilateral toggles equaldistances apart.` Although the springs I may be endless, I prefer tomake them separate, as shown, to facilitate assembling the parts duringmanufacture and to save time and expense in repairing a broken sectionof the spring. Furthermore all bolts may be provided with lock-nuts, ifdesired. In heavy vehicles the wheels may be provided with a duplicateset of springs and toggles.

In the operation of the spring4 cushion tire described, the springsalways act under tension and tend to move the quadrilateral toggles intothe normal positions shown in .the drawing. All joints or pivotalconnectionsincluding the spring connections, being movable are free toassume any position within their limits of movement, due to shocksreceived from road conditions. Relatively speaking, the outer tire movesas a whole in a vertical direction when given a sudden jolt or shock,the springs and toggles automatically adjusting themselves to the newconditions and restoring the tire automatically to its initial or normalposition when the shock has spent its force, thus giving-the whole tire,including the outer and inner rims and intermediate mechanism aresiliency approaching very nearly thatv of a pneumatic rubber tube.

The driving force as applied to the rear wheels of an automobile, whenstarting, or when changing gears suddenly, tends to produce about thesame movement and effects inthe tire as does a road shock and thereforewhen my invention is employed the shocks received by the occupants ofthe car are reduced and also as a consequence the life of the car islengthened.

It should be particularly noted that the springs are always subjected totension, that is, they are always under a stretching strain and nevercompressed. Furthermore, they are never subjected to any torsionalstrains. The objection to springs being subjected to a combination ofdifferent strains is that they will soon crystallize and break or becomeoverheated under such treatment. The quadrilateral toggles of theportion of the wheel near the road will be extended Vpulling apart thesprings inside of them, the springs between the ends of thequadrilateral toggles remaining in tension, while the upper portion ofthe wheel will draw the intermediate springs apart and reduce the lengthof the inside springs, the tension of all the springs being suflicientto prevent the inner or outer rims from striking the springs or crossbolts even when the wheel is given severe shocks or jolts. It shouldalso be noted that when strong torque is applied to the rear wheels tostart the automobile or when there is any sudden change in such torque,the transmission thereof to the outer rim is cushioned by the springmechanism while nevertheless power to the outer rim is transmittedpositively through the quadrilateral toggles.

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in thedetails and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit andscope of my invention as defined by the claims and I wish therefore notto be limited to the precise construction herein disclosed.

What I claim and desire to have secured by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is

l. The combination with a wheel, of an inner ring U-shaped incross-section mounted on the rim of said wheel, an outer ring invertedU-shaped in cross-section, toggle link connections between the innerring and the outer ring on both sides thereof, a series of bolts spacedapart and extending through said inner ring to connect the toggle linksthereto, a corresponding series of bolts spaced apart and extendingthrough the outer ring to connect the toggle links thereto, springsbetween the free ends of the said toggle link, intermediate cross boltsbetween the ends of the toggles, sleeves on said intermediate crossbolts for centering the springs, and an outer tread rim around saidouter ring.

2. The combination with a wheel, of an inner ring U-shaped incross-section, means for connecting said ring and rim of said wheel, anouter ring inverted U-shaped in cross-section, a double set of togglelink connections between the inner and outer rings, a continuous seriesof tension springs connected to the joints of the toggles, and centwosubscribing witnesses, on this 27 dey tering mechanism to hold thesprings beof July, A. D. 1910. tween the toggle connections out oflateral Contact therewith and out of Contact with CLEMENT E' BEARD' 5either the inner or outer rings. Witnesses:

In testimony whereof I have signed my NORA HAVE., name to thisspecification, in the presence of "WILLIAM O. WALLACE.

opes of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing theCommissioner ot Entente, Washington, D.

